Tailor catches 3 pawnshop robbers

The owner of a tailoring shop who opened his establishment early caught three robbery suspects as they were about to leave an adjacent pawnshop in Quezon City before dawn yesterday.

Superintendent Allan Parreño, commander of the Quezon City Police District-Station 2, said tailor Nestor Valmocina shouted for help as soon as he saw Edgar Uyat, 36; Richard Apaply, 32; and Luis Mariano, 34, about to escape at around 4:15 a.m. Policemen on patrol heard his cries and arrested the suspects, who are facing robbery charges.

Parreño said the suspects broke into Valmocina’s shop and then into the C.M. Picache pawnshop beside it using an acetylene torch. The two shops are located at the corner of Del Monte Avenue and San Pedro Bautista street in Barangay Damayan.

The suspects’ companions, who were in a white L300 van, were able to escape. The police recovered from the arrested suspects a sack containingP27,000 from the tailoring shop and several pieces of jewelry from the pawnshop, Parreño said.

According to Parreño, the suspects earlier rented an apartment on the same street where the shops were located.

While it was not clear whether the suspects were behind similar break-ins in the area, Parreño believes the suspects are not new to these activities.

He said the suspects have roots in northern Luzon, where robbers who use an acetylene torch reportedly come from. Based on a blotter report, Apaply is from Kalinga province while Mariano is a native of Isabela.